What If Jason Bateman's Arrested Development and Ozark Characters Exist in the Same, Twisted Universe?

There's currently another season of Arrested Developmenton the way. It'll begin shooting in two weeks, according to Jason Bateman, who plays the show's central character Michael Bluth. We still don't know what happens to the Bluth family or Michael after he fails to start his own company and film his own life story.

But before Arrested Development returns, Bateman's next project, Ozark, debuts on Netflix. The series—which Bateman stars in, directs, and executive produces—follows Marty Byrde, a regular, even-keeled family man and businessman who secretly works as a money launderer for Mexican drug cartels. When Marty's business partner steals from their drug lord boss, he must uproot his family to move from Chicago to the Missouri Ozarks, where he thinks there's an untapped market to pay back the millions he owes the cartel. It's a far more dangerous business than even light treason, one that has the police breathing down Marty's neck and the collapse of the Byrde family ever imminent.

It's a dark show, with bodies shoved into oil drums to decompose, live men thrown off skyscrapers, and Marty getting his ass kicked or threatened just in the premiere episode. It's like Breaking Bad with less science and more accounting.

On paper however, a straight-laced numbers savvy CEO who's doing everything in his power to keep his family and family business from crashing and burning does sound a lot like another famous Bateman character. Did Michael Bluth change his name to Marty Byrde and start a new life? It seemed plausible and only natural to ask Bateman if he's planning the Jason Bateman Cinematic Universe.

Did Michael Bluth change his name to Marty Byrde and start a new life?

"Well certainly there's no strategy behind that. There's no Easter Egg or meta thread I'm trying to drop that maybe someone someday will figure out," Bateman said. "How would that have played out if Michael Bluth had to start laundering money? There were a few episodes where he did go down to Mexico. I think he drove the stair car down there, too."

So forget about the fan fiction where Michael Bluth escapes his failed business ventures and family, meets some drug lords on a trip to Mexico in the stair car, and starts a new life with a new family laundering money for the cartels.

Netflix

Bateman does acknowledge that the idea wouldn't be far off. In fact, that's kind of the point of the characters he chooses to play.

"It's not surprising that anyone would pick up the similarities in those characters, because I really enjoy playing parts that are less about trying to convince the audience that I am somebody else, but is really somebody that they are familiar with and comfortable with," Bateman said. "I enjoy being a central character who's disappearing in the story and facilitating the central elements of the plot."

He also intentionally chose a character he was comfortable with to make it easier for him to balance his executive producer and director roles. "It was important that the actual role I was playing wasn't going to be something that was hugely distracting for me—a character with a limp or an accent would have been too much to take on."

And on Ozark, like on Arrested Development, it works. Bateman transitions naturally into dark drama—a switch he said came easily because that's what he watches, despite his comedy background.

"I guess there's enough darkness floating around that it didn't take much preparation," Bateman said. "It was an opportunity to make something that was similar to what I watch as a viewer. I'm a big David Fincher fan and he makes some really powerful, unsettling films. This, some of the subject matter is pretty dark."

Dark indeed, and darker if it takes place after Michael Bluth's downfall.

Matt MillerCulture EditorMatt is the Culture Editor at Esquire where he covers music, movies, books, and TV—with an emphasis on all things Star Wars, Marvel, and Game of Thrones.

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